Interview with Fairytas

Fairytas

Unique hand made costumes and accessories

Jolien Rosanne is an amazing designer and the owner/creator of Fairytas a shop based in Netherlands where you can find your own fairytale or follow the stories and surprises Jolien always has to offer.

1. How would you describe yourself?
I’m a quirky creative lady who decided to pursue her dreams after going through university and receiving her Bachelor of Arts. I have always loved costume design and you could often see me making, sketching or doing something creative. My costume design business Fairytas lets me do all the things I love: from designing the costume and accessories with my clients to bringing them to life, it’s all there!

2. Can you tell us bit of how you started making these amazing costumes and accessories?
I started with sketching and creating simple original designs and copying movie costumes. Copying and studying movie costumes was a great way to understand the construction process of a design and I took that knowledge and incorporated it in my own work.

3. Do you still remember the 1st one you made, how do you feel about it looking back now?
I do remember the first original costume I made….it looked horrible, but I was so proud of it. It is a wonderful moment when something you’ve designed becomes reality. As a designer you envision an image and feeling of a certain costume in your mind and the challenge is to translate that vision into something more tangible.

4. Why alternative fantasy designed pieces?
With couture fantasy pieces you can create the most elaborate images and pieces you have ever dreamed of. There is no limit, your limit is only your imagination. And because my imagination is expanding every day I can explore those boundaries for years to come.

5. You have the most dreamy pieces, where do you turn to for inspiration?
I get my inspiration from everything around me: nature, people, stories, dreams, books. A design starts with an incredible rough sketch of the mood and feeling of the piece. After that I do a lot of research to sharpen that image and bring it down to reality.

6. Your pieces are handmade and unique, with your own personal design but do you take custom orders?
I get that question a lot and the answer is absolutely yes! About 75% of what you see on the Fairytas website is designed for others/events! I love to work with the visions and ideas of other people and execute them in the Fairytas way.

7. Why the name Fairytas?
I wanted to combine 2 worlds, a fantasy world and the real world. The name Fairytas is made up of 2 words: Veritas is Latin for truth and Fairy is of course a make-believe creature of another world. Though technically Veritas is the goddess of truth so I may or may not sneaked another fantasy creature in there ;).

8. I know this can be a hard question to answer, I bet you love all your designs but do you have a piece or a collection that you hold most dear?
I have a special place in my heart for my black Vampire Queen design and my White Demon dress. For me it stands for a positive change of style and a way of working. With my Vampire Queen I pushed the boundaries of my own imagination and it gave me so much in return. It took 1 year to finish this piece though. After it was finished I gave myself home work to become faster and more efficient but without losing the realistic detailed design spirit I had in my Vampire Queen. I achieved that with the White Demon that was made in one week. It has a whopping 30 metres of fabric in the skirts and enough logical details to keep my eyes fully satisfied.

9. You are very beautiful so we can see you modelling your own pieces a lot, do you consider a modelling career or you do it just for fun?
I modelled for a lot of projects and people a couple of years ago but it’s not where my heart lies. My heart is with designing and making the costumes. I also wanted to use other faces to give the pieces more diversity and different expressions. I started to use different models to wear my designs more and more which resulted in an incredible amount of emails of people asking me if I quit modelling my own pieces and if I could please reconsider. So now I have found a nice balance between modelling some of my own pieces and using other amazing models who fit with the image of the costume I want to portray.

10. With so many amazing dream pieces you must have many requests for photo collaborations, what makes you say yes to a project?
Yes I get requests for photo collaborations daily and I love to work with other artists. I always look if the other artist can bring something original or new to my work. Many photographers create their own ‘world’ and I can quickly spot if my pieces belong in that world or if it wouldn’t be a good match at all.

11. And about the future, what are your biggest goals in life, what more would you like to conquer?
I would love to have an off-beat wedding dress label with accessories that match (wings, headdresses, crowns). More than once I heard brides complain that every dress at every wedding store looks the same and I can see where they’re coming from. I think most wedding dresses can have a little bit more elegant magic in them and I would love to be the person who could provide that.
I also want to explore how far I can go with making my designs reality and place them in settings they really belong. For example: I would love to see them in motion or in elaborately styled photo sets. My imagination is always and always will be the greatest challenge I will want to perfect and conquer.

12. So to end … You know you have many fans out there, (me included). What message you would you like to leave us with ?
First I want to thank everybody who looked and enjoyed my work, took the time to leave a comment and supported me true all these years! Second, for all the other artists out there: Never stop dreaming and pursuing what makes you happy. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself and others!